Monday, June 16, 2025
During London Craft Week 2025, Ash & Plumb, a sculpture and woodworking studio, debuted their new solo exhibition, Novus Collection: Part II, at The New Craftmaker. It was the studio’s most ambitious showcase to date, and it spanned from May 10 to May 31.
This most recent collection, which is an extension of Ash & Plumb’s initial Novus collection that was initially displayed at Collect Open 2024, furthers their investigation of archetypal form, material memory, and eternal design. Each vessel, which is made completely of unseasoned English oak offcuts from a nearby Sussex sawmill, represents a conversation between the past and present by referencing the classical language of old form while honouring the material’s inherent faults.
Instead of reproducing old ships, Ash & Plumb reimagines them using modern woodworking techniques. Their fascination with the visual language of form and how it reverberates throughout time and culture—from Southeast Asian and Greco-Roman to British Neolithic and Saxon references—informs their work. They say that their own practice playfully reinvents these references, providing a “sense of unexpected familiarity.”
About Ash & Plumb
Ash & Plumb is a creative collaboration between Barnaby Ash and Dru Plumb that specialises in making sculptural wooden vessels that playfully reimagine classical and ancient forms in a raw and modern setting. Their rustic workshop, which is situated in the South Downs, not far from Brighton, provides the basis for artistic creations that honour the wood’s inherent beauty via both traditional and modern craftsmanship.
A single piece of unseasoned, sustainably sourced oak is used to hand-turn and shape each vessel, letting the wood’s natural qualities determine the final design. Each piece is a celebration of the masculine and the feminine, the light and the dark, and is firmly anchored in timeless, archetypal forms that inspire a sense of ritual and anchoring.
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